Many sources of factual information on health of Social Security, etc.

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Many sources of factual information on health of Social Security, etc.

In the September 4 edition of The Laconia Daily Sun, Tony Boutin issued another of his ideological diatribes on what he calls "Social Welfare" programs. He asserts that Social Security, Medicare and Disability Insurance (part of Social Security) are all insolvent. This assertion is simply not true and is intended to alarm those who either do or will receive benefits from them. The Social Security and Medicare Trustees Report is available on-line (http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/) to anyone who prefers to have factual information about their current status and future challenges. An easy-to-read summary of Social Security and Medicare (2012) can be found on the State Committee on Aging web site at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dcbcs/beas/aging/documents/ss.pdf. These programs do indeed face significant challenges which Congress must address but it is not helpful to have purposeful disinformation propagated about these programs by those who have ideological objections to their very existence.

In the same letter, Mr. Boutin attacks the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), using much of the same level of hateful disinformation being propagated by right-wing opponents of the existence of this program. To be sure, there are significant challenges associated with the ACA but those attacking its existence have apparently forgotten that nearly everyone who evaluated the health care needs of the United States (from across the political spectrum) have agreed that the system prior to the enactment of the ACA was unsustainable. Again, there are many sources of factual information available on the web about the ACA. A good place to start is the Congressional Budget Office's Director's blog found at http://www.cbo.gov/blog or the AARP fact sheets found at http://www.aarp.org/health/health-care-reform/health_reform_factsheets/.

If Mr. Boutin and others desire repeal of the Affordable Care Act, what do they constructively suggest in its place? (Silence!)